Kuntoro blasts PLN for above-normal prices
Kuntoro blasts PLN for above-normal prices
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro
Mangkusubroto has blasted state electricity company PLN for
charging customers above-normal prices.
Kuntoro voiced his criticism Friday following reports that PLN
increased power prices for many households by up to 300 percent
starting last month, as against the government-set price increase
of an average of 20 percent.
"If this (the extreme increase in power price) is a normal
phenomenon, there must be something wrong in PLN's management,"
Kuntoro said.
"PLN should discipline its employees so that they work well
and no clients are charged above the normal price," Kuntoro said.
Kuntoro added that PLN should be held responsible for the
extreme power increase instead of accusing cooperatives or
companies which were contracted by PLN to count the volume of
power used by clients.
The government raised power prices by an average of 20 percent
starting last month. The tariffs for households using between 450
volt-ampere (VA) and 2,200 VA increased by 38 percent and 40
percent.
According to the new tariff, households which use between 450
VA and 2,200 VA must pay a subscription fee of Rp 11,500 per KVA
per month separate from a power utilization fee of between Rp
109,000 and Rp 149,50 per kilowatt hour (kwh) per month.
However, many PLN costumers claim their power bills have been
raised by up to 300 percent.
On Thursday, dozens of residents of the Krembangan district,
Surabaya, East Java protested the exorbitant price hike.
They said they had to pay PLN Rp 1 million last month, as
against Rp 267,000 in the previous months.
Hizban, head of the PLN distribution office in the province,
promised to investigate the exorbitant price increases.
"Maybe, PLN's employees made mistakes in counting the volume
of power used," he said, reported Antara.
The government raised power prices in May by an average of 20
percent. It will further raise power prices by an average of 18
percent in August and 20 percent in November, to reduce subsidies
for electricity from Rp 11 trillion to Rp 2.3 trillion for the
current fiscal year.
The rupiah's sharp depreciation against the dollar since the
middle of last year has left the company suffering more than Rp
500 billion in losses last year because it gets earnings in
rupiah but pays 60 percent of its costs in dollars.
PLN has tried to reduce its dollar-based costs by asking
independent power producers to renegotiate their dollar-based
power purchase contracts, but none of the producers has given any
response to the request.
PLN's president, Djiteng Marsudi, unilaterally annulled a
power purchase contract recently with producer PT Cikarang
Listrindo, owned by former president Soeharto's cousin
Sudwikatmono, in an effort to break through the stalemate. But
the move was opposed by Minister for the Empowerment of State-
Owned Companies Tanri Abeng. (jsk)